Garcia: ‘The Champions League is the most beautiful competition’

With a gigantic Champions League match on the horizon, Napoli head coach Rudi Garcia addressed the media ahead of his side’s matchup with Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid. The Partenopei have steadied the ship after a fairly underwhelming start and have won their last three from four across all competitions.

Garcia spoke in his pre-match press conference about the importance of the Champions League, opponents Real Madrid and limiting the quality of Jude Bellingham:

On the emotion of the Champions League: “It is the most beautiful competition, for a coach or a player it is always special, already when we hear the music we feel an important energy and it makes you understand that you are in the Champions League. I have already said that Napoli is a club that has to play in it every year, we are first in the group with Real Madrid, but it is the championship that takes you there to play in it every year and we did well in the last match (against Lecce).”

“We are back in the top 4 and we can dedicate ourselves to this great event, against one of the biggest clubs in the world with a unique list of successes, 5 victories in the last 10 seasons, two years ago with the great coach that you know very well and that I also appreciate a lot. They have about ten players from the last final, it will be a difficult match but we have the ambition to play to win.”

On limiting Bellingham: “They were good at signing someone like him, after Benzema’s departure, even if he plays in a different role. We don’t have to think of just one player, but they were also good at signing Joselu. It’s also a powerful team, good at set-pieces, it is a complete team, but we have many possibilities in our squad.”